Catholic Easter

History of Catholic Easter

According to Christian holy books, Jesus was resurrected from the dead two days after Good Friday, on the third day of crucifixion. Easter Day is a remarkable celebration of Christ's resurrection for Catholics all over the world. Various sources cite AD 26 and AD 36 as the year of Christ's resurrection. Historically, the Easter Season was observed for forty days, from Easter Day till Ascension Day. Today, Easter is officially observed for fifty days until Pentecost.

Easter Week

In the liturgical calendar, Easter Week is the first week of the Easter Season.

Date of Catholic Easter

Easter is a movable holiday observed two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday. Ecclesiastically, the Easter Day is celebrated in the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. In the liturgical calendar, the equinox is tied to the liturgical year, regardless of the astronomically correct date of actual equinox. Ecclesiastically, the Catholic Church considers the equinox to fall onto March 21. The "Full Moon" is not necessarily the astronomical full moon either. The date of Catholic Easter falls between March 22 and April 25. To complicate things even further, the date of Catholic Easter is different of the data of Orthodox Easter.

Easter Traditions

Catholic Easter is surrounded by many traditions. Easter Eggs, or Paschal Eggs, are the most notable one. Easter eggs are painted, colored, or decorated eggs given to celebrate Easter. The egg symbolizes the rebirth. Historically, the egg was a symbol or the rebirth of the earth in Pagan celebrations of spring. Easter egg was adopted by early Christians later on.

The Easter Bunny is a relatively modern phenomena used to celebrate Easter. The Easter Bunny is a rabbit that brings Easter Baskets to children on the night before Easter. Easter Baskets are baskets full of colored or specially decorated Easter eggs. The character of Easter Bunny is used to entertain children by hiding the baskets somewhere in the house and engaging kids in the Egg Hunt activity where they find Easter baskets when they wake up in the morning.